In case it wasn't plainly obvious, I really didn't like season 4 Chloe. I wasn't her biggest fan to begin with, but season 4, wow... So have fic.

Responsibilities

Chloe sat on the couch beside Linda, wiping her eyes clean with a Kleenex she held scrunched up in a fist.

She had spent a day and a half crying after Lucifer left and she just couldn't understand why he would do that to her. Again. He had promised, hadn't he? To never leave like he did with Vegas ever again.

"What happened, Chloe? You were the only one there."

She sniffed, rubbed at her nose with a clean tissue, before pulling in a deep breath. Better to get it over with and tell Linda. "Lucifer left. he went back to Hell."

Linda nodded. "Yes, I get that. Amenadiel told me he went back. It had something to do with the demons needing a king and the only other option was Charlie."

Chloe shook her head. "No, he didn't have to leave. The problem was fixed already. Lucifer sent the demons back to Hell. He could have stayed with me."

Linda frowned, a confused look on her face. "Okay, you're going to have to explain that one to me, because from what I understand he went back to face his responsibility as King."

Chloe was beginning to get frustrated with this conversation. It was like Linda wasn't actually listening to what she was saying. "He didn't need to though. He had sent all the demons back to Hell kingless and got them to stay there. The problem was over. Why can't a demon just take over the responsibility?"

Linda shook her head. "No. From what I heard, the demons need a king. They are very attached to Lucifer and the king needs to be an angel."

Chloe balled her hands into fists. "Then why not Amenadiel or one of Lucifer's other brothers or sisters? Apparently there's enough angels. Surely one of them could have taken up the responsibility."

Linda sighed and shook her head. "I understand you're upset, but there's a reason it was either Lucifer or Charlie. Angels have domains they stick to. Lucifer is Light, and he was put in control of Hell and Punishment after he Fell. Amenadiel is Time. He doesn't fit. Charlie is the only angel that has no assigned role. Demons know this. It is either Charlie, a defenceless baby who can't even support his own head, or Lucifer who is a grown adult and very capable of the task set to him."

Chloe shook her head. "No. He made the wrong choice. He was supposed to stay here with me."

Linda looked at her, the frown on her face growing. "Why do you think he made the wrong choice?'

"Because he was supposed to stay with me after I told him I loved him. He should have stayed."

Linda closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before letting out slowly. "Chloe... He couldn't stay with you, regardless of whether you said that or not. He had to go."

Chloe shook her head, refusing to believe anything but that Lucifer belonged with her and nowhere else. "He is meant to be with me."

Linda took another deep breath, this one being let out even slower than the first. "Chloe... He had to leave. The world was in danger, and he loves Earth. Here is home to him."

"But he loves me more!" she shouted out. It was true, she knew it was. Lucifer loved her more than the world. He had to. She had saved him when he was turning into a monster in front of her eyes. Had made him reverse back to the beautiful man she knew he was. Not the monster.

Sure, he had to turn into the monster to end the fight with the demons, and she hated that he still scared her shitless in that form. She was supposed to be over that now, but couldn't stop the look of horror that had crossed her face. Maybe that was why he left?

Linda rubbed at her forehead. "Chloe, did he not explain this to you before he left? I'm sure he did if you were there. The demons wouldn't stop coming up to check on him. They got worried because he was away so long. They're not going to stop coming up here, killing people, so more demons can visit and checking up on him and begging him to go back."

Chloe shook her head. "I don't care. He should have stayed. A few people going to the demons that just died wouldn't hurt. So many people die all the time. They can just use freshly dead bodies, like Father Kinley."

Linda stared at her with her mouth slightly open at that one. She held up a hand. "Wait. So, you are saying you don't care if the world literally goes to Hell, as long as Lucifer stays with you?"

Chloe rolled her eyes. "The world wouldn't go to Hell. He was exaggerating."

Linda stared at her more, surprise on her features. "Do...do you know anything at all about Lucifer?"

Scowling at the intended insult, she nodded. "Of course I do! What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Lucifer would never exaggerate about something so serious or important to him."

Rolling her eyes again, Chloe sighed. "He exaggerates all the time on the job. Did you know he doesn't care about the dead people we are tasked to find the killers of?"

Linda shook her head. "Chloe. Death doesn't mean the same thing to him as it does to us. He has worked for centuries over souls. Already dead people. The body itself means nothing to him. It's the soul that is important. When you're on the job, all those bodies are just dead meat to him. Empty of anything important."

Clenching her teeth, Chloe almost growled out her next sentence. "But that's wrong."

"No, Chloe, it isn't wrong. It's just different. He's not human. You can't put human norms to him and make them work."

"He's plenty human enough."

Linda closed her eyes again, seemingly counting to ten. "Okay, then please tell me why that gets you angry, but you don't care if demons take over dead people, especially ones recently killed by other demons, simply so you can keep Lucifer with you?"

Her mouth dropped open at that one. "What?! Of course I don't think murder is okay!"

Linda stared at her. "But you said you would be fine with Lucifer staying with you and having demons come to check on him all the time. Most of the demons that ended up on Earth were demons in people just killed by other demons. The only one not in that pile was Dromos in Father Kinley. Every person killed who went to Hell, would end up with a demon possessing the body and walking earth, making room for more demons until no one is left. Do you think Lucifer, who cares for the world, would want that?"

Chloe stared at her like she was going insane. "What? No, that isn't what would have happened... It isn't!"

Linda crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. "Is this anything like that time Lucifer got called to Vegas by their police to tell him Candy was missing and he took Ella with him because she wanted to make sure he wasn't alone during that time? He actually explained to me what happened. Did you ever ask, or were you too busy screaming that you weren't jealous."

Chloe's jaw dropped. She knew what time Linda was talking about. He had snuck out with Ella in tow during her birthday celebrations and she had always thought it was just for fun, because he was an annoying twerp sometimes when he wanted something. She had thought he had gone off to spend time with Ella sexually without her around. She had never bothered to ask, just in case she had been proven right.

And now she was finding out he was actually called because the divorce hadn't been finalised with Candy yet and she ended up a missing person. Well, now she felt guilty and like absolute shit.

"It's not the same..."she muttered at her lap. She didn't want to see the look in Linda's eyes in that moment.

But even as she said it, she knew it wasn't fully the truth.

She was jealous. She was jealous of demons and Hell, because they took Lucifer away from her. Was that wrong? She wasn't sure of anything any longer...

Linda didn't need to know that, though.

Speaking of the psychiatrist, Linda got to her feet and walked towards the door and stepped out without saying another word. Chloe was left in the now empty apartment. With Maze gone to live with Linda and Amenadiel and Trixie staying with Dan that night... Why did she have to be left alone?

She thought Lucifer would stay with her until she died. That she would never feel lonely ever again.

She would never be able to understand why he would choose to go back to Hell over staying with her in loving bliss.